Yankees top Red Sox in 12, maintain one-game AL East lead

Ibanez tied it with a pinch-hit two-run homer in the ninth inning, then had an RBI single in the 12th, helping the Yankees remain a game up on Baltimore in the American League East with one game to go by beating the Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Tuesday night.

"We stuck together. We stayed after them, and we were able to pull it out," Ibanez said. "It's crunch time for us, and we all know that."

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With a second comeback spurred by Ibanez in the past 10 days, the Yankees need a win or an Orioles loss on the final day of the season to secure their 13th division title since 1996. The Orioles beat Tampa Bay 1-0 earlier.

If the teams end up even after Wednesday's games, they'll play a tiebreaker Thursday in Baltimore.

"If you win, you win the division. That's the bottom line," manager Joe Girardi said. "And we have the chance to have the best record, and that's the bottom line and that's a good feeling that you can control that."

The Yankees kept missing chances on a foggy, rainy night. They were 0-58 when trailing after eight innings this season before rallying in the ninth.

Ibanez came up again with two outs in the 12th against Andrew Miller (3-2) following a walk to Francisco Cervelli in his first plate appearance of the year and a free pass to Granderson.

The 40-year-old first-year Yankee then hit a grounder out of the reach of shortstop Jose Iglesias, and Cervelli flopped into home plate with a slide he said he couldn't explain.

"I must've thanked Ibanez 100 times," said Mark Teixeira, who was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. "Raul is my favorite player right now. I guarantee I'm the happiest guy on the team because it could not have gone worse for me personally, but we won."

The Yankees ran out to first base to mob Ibanez, who had a tying two-run homer against Oakland in the 13th inning Sept. 22. He was doused with a bucket of ice water during a postgame interview.

"It was really cold. My back was numb for a while," Ibanez said, "but it felt good."

While the Orioles were pursuing the Yankees in the standings, Lowe's outing was delayed briefly in the 12th by another kind of bird. A member of the grounds crew, using a bucket, chased a bird that landed on the infield and was reluctant to fly off.

Tying a season high with their seventh straight loss, the Red Sox dropped to 69-92, ensuring they will finish in last place in the East for the first time since 1992.

"We didn't start the season to finish fifth ... or fourth or third or second," manager Bobby Valentine said.

The Yankees had at least one hit in each of the first six innings before the top three in the batting order went out successively in the seventh against Junichi Tazawa.

After Ibanez's homer, they loaded the bases against Bailey in the ninth, but Mark Melancon relieved and got Teixeira to pop up to an outfield playing in and Robinson Cano to ground out.

Ibanez has 19 homers this season, 10 of them tying the game or giving New York a lead.

Managing as if this were a playoff game, Girardi used much of his well-rested bullpen. He called on Rafael Soriano for the ninth, trailing 2-1, and the closer gave up a leadoff homer to James Loney, rankling many of the 41,564 who stayed through the rain.

He also pitched the 10th, walking one batter. It was the first time this season Soriano pitched more than 1 1/3 innings. Soriano threw 43 pitches, his most since Sept. 25, 2005.

"Hopefully, he feels OK tomorrow if I need him," Girardi said. "I've said it all along and I'll say it again: trying to win the division."

Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia were back in Boston's lineup a day after sitting out of a 10-2 loss, and immediately made an impact. Ellsbury, who sat against left-hander CC Sabathia, singled and scored from first on a double to right-center by Pedroia, playing with a broken left ring finger. Cody Ross added a sacrifice fly against David Phelps for a 2-0 lead.

"He had great at-bats all night. He's an amazing character," Valentine said.

Eduardo Nunez had an RBI single off Jon Lester after Granderson reached on an infield hit, advanced to second on a throwing error by third baseman Pedro Ciriaco on the play and then stole third base.

Teixeira grounded out with runners on first and second to end the fifth, and was booed by the many fans who remained in their seats.

The Yankees had runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh against Rich Hill, and Ichiro Suzuki came up to chants of "Ich-iro!" He hit a sharp line drive to center field that was caught by Ellsbury.

Game notes

Yankees top pitching prospect Manny Banuelos is scheduled to have reconstructive surgery on his left elbow Thursday. Dr. James Andrews will perform the Tommy John surgery. The 21-year-old Banuelos is expected to miss the 2013 season. ... Boston entered the game 24 games out of first place. The previous time the Red Sox were that far out was after games of Sept. 22, 1969. ... Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-6) faces New York's Hiroki Kuroda (15-11) in the regular-season finale.

Research Notes

The Yankees trailed 2-1 entering the 9th inning and won. It was their first win this season when trailing after 8 inning (now 1-58). They were the only MLB team that did not have a win when trailing after 8 innings.

From Elias: Raul Ibanez is the 1st Yankee since 1920 (RBI became official) to hit a game-tying HR in the 9th and a walk-off RBI of any sort in extra-innings.

Raul Ibanez is the first Yankee with a game-tying pinch-hit HR in the 9th inning when trailing by two or more runs since Darryl Strawberry in 1998 at Oakland. The last to do it at home was Cliff Johnson in 1977 vs the Orioles.

Robinson Cano now has an 8-game multi-hit streak, matching his career best done in 2010. It is also tied for the 3rd-longest by a Yankee in the Live Ball era. Only Tommy Henrich (9 in 1947) and Bernie Williams (10 in 2002) have longer streaks.

From Elias: Raul Ibanez, at 40 years old, hit a walk-off RBI single in the Yankees' win over the Red Sox tonight. The last Yankee with a walk-off RBI at age 40 or older was Enos Slaughter on August 4, 1957 vs. Cleveland (Slaughter was 41 years old).

From Elias: Raul Ibanez is the first Yankee to have a game-tying RBI in the 9th inning and then a walkoff RBI in extra innings in the same game since Graig Nettles in 1973 vs the Brewers.